Teenager told he faces prison term over road death

A self-confessed killer “joyrider” was on Friday warned that he faces a prison sentence after he admitted killing a man by careless driving.

At Dungannon Crown Court, Her Honour Judge McReynolds told 19-year-old Christopher McKenna that given his offences, “custodial sentences are always in the contemplation of the court”.

McKenna, from Glenarn Close, Lack in Enniskillen, admitted causing the death of Stephen Mark Gilmour by driving carelessly on the Omagh Road in Dromore on October 27, 2013.

The teenager also admitted causing death while driving without insurance and aggravated vehicle taking causing death.

Mr Gilmour, who was 20 at the time of his death, was a passenger in a grey coloured Renault Megane which crashed shortly before 3.30pm on the Omagh Road in Dromore, just 200 yards from his house at Gardrum Heights.

McKenna entered guilty pleas relating to the tragic death and his defence lawyer Gary McHugh told the court he had been “expressly instructed to convey his sincere condolences to the Gilmour family”.

He has been restrained in what he can say and has been able to say because of the legal proceedings to date but his pleas at arraignment reflects his genuine contrition in the circumstances,” said the lawyer.

Adjourning the case until March 27 for sentencing and releasing McKenna on continuing bail, Judge McReynolds ordered presentence probation reports to be compiled on the killer driver but said it was a matter for the Gilmour family whether they wished to enter victim impact statements as it “can be a very painful exercise – nothing really should be done to interfere with any scab that is forming.”